the "silent treatment"

[Jonathan Lighter]

No entry in OED, not even an allusion.  The 1825 ex. means "silence rather
than comment," as do others before the 20th C.

1825 _Edinburgh Journal of Science_ II 334:  Our readers will see the
necessity of repelling a charge, which, had it come from any other quarter,
would have received that *silent treatment* which it merits.

My impression is that the idiomatic use of the phrase alluded originally to
its use as a term of art in Christian Science, which I'll allow others to
explore.

The earliest ex. I see in the usual current sense is this:

1907 _The Independent_ LXIII 592: "Silent Treatment" at West Point. ...From
the time that he reported Sherman the cadets, eve of his own class, have
given him the "silent treatment." They have done nothing to him, simply not
spoken to him, treating him with contempt.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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